100% simplicity

After Under the Skin, I was a little nervous that Lucy would underwhelm me as much. Thankfully I can report that, safe in the hands of Luc Besson, it is film to enthrall, shock and shake you. You may think you have the gist of the story from the trailer, but you don't.

At times, this film felt like a lecture with a melange of what appears to be stock footage to emphasise certain points. But at other times it is a roller coaster ride through the streets of Paris and synapses of Scarlett Johansson. A strong narrative, determined and grimy performances from all the cast and seamless editing all make for a movie you will not forget.

This is no SPOILER (unless you have not seen the trailer..): the premise of the film rests on the idea that we are only using 10% to 15% of our brain power and upping that percentage leads to exponential increases in our capacity to manipulate our environment. (What this does to your ethical standards, I will leave you to judge!)

Many leaders spend a good deal of time on increasing their capacity to absorb information, practice techniques and approaches acquired in business schools and generally seek to be better, sharper and more skilled than those around them. However the best leaders also seem to be able to inspire fresh efforts with simplicity and common sense.

So when you are 'sharpening your saw', how are you also keeping things simple as they can be (but no simpler...)? 

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This is the forty fifth of my 2014 series of blogs about leadership ideas to be found in the movies of our time. You can read here as why I am doing this. Please subscribe to this blog if you want to read more. Thanks. Click the label 'film' to see all the others.